SUT. Partnerships and benchmarks for Sustainable Urban Tourism. SUT governance

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1 SUT governance Partnerships and benchmarks for Sustainable Urban Tourism Advice and Guidance for: Research & Development Agencies Non-Governmental Organisations Community Groups Local and urban administrators Developers of urban cultural tourism European and national decision-makers SUT governance Sustainable Urban Tourism: involving local agents and partnerships for new forms of governance Tools for: analysing the local situation preparing a policy framework assessing current trends benchmarking practices enhancing performance networking technical cooperation building capacity european commission Directorate Environment Project Implemented under Framework Programme 5 Key Action: City of Tomorrow and Cultural Heritage SUT Governance 1 13/9/07 16:57:22

2 SUT GOVERNANCE Sustainable urban tourism Johannes Driessen Lubeck tourismus Lubeck public and private sector sharing goal of tourism improvement Improves environmental management Urban systems function more efficiently Enhances urban environment and townscape Protects historic built, archaeological and natural environmental resources Increases economic viability Sustains a viable tourism sector Enhances the urban economy through tourist expenditure Brings new businesses and jobs Drives social progress Creates jobs for marginalised groups Distributes social wealth and opportunities more fairly Brings long-term community prosperity Increases quality of life in urban communities Encourages sustainable consumption and behaviour by residents Safeguards the locality by developing local pride and appreciation Facilitates responsive urban governance Promotes partnership activities and stakeholder collaboration Decentralises public policy and management Encourages community self-help and networking SUT Governance 2 13/9/07 16:57:23

3 avoids mass tourism problems DBB DBB Thessaloniki tourism destinations in crowded urban setting Political and managerial Stakeholder conflicts: within government, between public and private sectors, between development and conservation, between local community and visitors Alienated citizens: lack of participation in tourism proposals and projects Over-developed tourist facilities: saturated market reduces demand Damage Physical damage from heavy traffic, air pollution, and people pressure Visual damage from standardised facilities and tourism disney-fication Damage to ambience from impact of tourist numbers Vandalism to badly organised places not respected by residents and visitors DBB Economic and social Loss of local character and traditions by imposing one view of local heritage Hostility from residents to tourists due to increased prices and conflicts of uses Damage to diversified local economy through over-dependency on tourism Towns divided into tourism areas and areas of social deprivation and physical decay The final project report of SUT governance is at SUT Governance 3 13/9/07 16:57:31

4 SUT GOVERNANCE Public-private partnerships An innovative approach to local governance for Sustainable Urban Tourism maximising social, environmental and economic performance Participatory decision-making requires: Commitment and experience Partners who are committed and ambitious Previous experience of co-operative projects and partnerships Recognition of mutual benefits Well defined roles and relationships Benefits fairly shared between partners Partner roles distributed clearly, reasonably, efficiently Participants excellent in own core activities Productive personal relations among partners Well-defined target areas Understanding the nature of the tourist attractions and the complexity of managing them Partnership activities that respond to local needs and expectations Public participation and outreach Public awareness & support of the activity Citizens involvement and public participation in the activity Public outreach activities and broad dissemination Clear contractual agreements Shared strategy for action Defined and agreed roles & responsibilities Contractual agreements regulating responsibilities and liabilities Competent and effective planning Objectives: clear but sensitive to changing conditions Strategies: well planned and sufficiently flexible to achieve the objectives Transparent actions Activities and co-operation transparent to partners and the local community Constructive teamwork based on mutual trust and consensus Efficient management Competent management team and management mechanisms Robust marketing and thorough public outreach Co-ordination and networking between the partners Competent leadership Flexible organisational structures Monitoring and evaluation of management efficiency Effective implementation Well defined and flexible plans or programmes defining specific steps & actions Adequate and effective implementation mechanisms Careful monitoring and evaluation Continuous monitoring of progress towards achieving goals Continuous monitoring and feedback on the performance of the partnership Professional support by experts and experienced personnel External evaluation for quality assurance and benchmarking SUT Governance 4 13/9/07 16:57:31

5 Benchmarking A tool for assessing local tourism performance Urban framework conditions Analysis of best tourism attractions for culture and cultural heritage Visitor numbers and local tourism budget in relation to population; proportion of jobs in tourism Tradition of partnership culture in the urban tourism sector Pressures for partnership: public pressure for sustainable development policies and tourism sector concerns about sustainability, Key factors: legal framework, technical support, funding Implications for sustainability Relative impacts of the partnership: the environment, the economy, social fabric, integration of stakeholders Partnership contributions: urban ecosystem, townscape improvement, protection of historic and cultural heritage, preservation and improvement of green spaces Benchmarking of the effectiveness of partnership process Partnership process and activity Local stakeholders involvements: decision-making process, promoting partnerships, communicating with the public, Local Agenda 21 tourism aspects Partnership members: Local authorities, local businesses, hotel sector, travel agents, community groups and local residents, national regional and other public agencies, tourism professionals, research institutions / consultants Partnership funding: public sector, private sector, mixed Factors in partnership success: clear community policy and objectives, creativity and personal motivation, confidence in partnership activity, previous successful experience, political commitment, effective leadership, mutual advantages and benefits Existence of a contract or written agreement between partners, or making one Evaluation of partnership effectiveness Areas of partnership activity: tourism development and marketing, job creation, urban sustainability, community development, regional integration See the Benchmarking link at Graz tourismus SUT Governance 5 13/9/07 16:57:32

6 SUT GOVERNANCE Graz, Austria Best practice case-study for sustainable urban tourism Graz tourismus The City of Graz created the ökoprofit (ecoprofit) programme in the early 1990s. A special version for tourist companies began in An international network now has more than 70 cities or regions and over 1200 companies. The ecoprofit programme promotes sustainable businesses with integrated management systems for environmental, economic and social aspects. Benefits: Reduced resource consumption and minimized waste Increased local ecological awareness and capacity for continuous preservation Ecological quality management systems and certificates Efficiency savings for private businesses Improved local economy Long-term benefits for the tourist sector Increased capacity for self-organisation and networking Strengthened capacity of local authorities for decision-making Local authorities, businesses and consultants work together in Public-Private Partnerships through common training programmes and networking. This co-operation enables an effective flow of information and creates good synergies. Successful completion of training leads to membership of the ecoprofit Club which guarantees the longterm effectiveness of the programme through a continuing exchange of experience and knowledge. For further information, see SUT Governance 6 13/9/07 16:57:33

7 Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria Collaborative public -private networks Veliko Tarnovo: Historic town Many cultural and architectural attractions Wider region rich in natural assets. Beautiful Veliko Tarnovo project: Establish tourism as a prosperous economic sector Reduce unemployment and provide training Regenerate by improving urban infrastructure, public utilities and townscape Renovate buildings on the main tourist routes Achieve urban sustainability by improving economic viability and quality of life Engage private construction businesses and promote entrepreneurial spirit Create new tourism information centre and the tourism signage project Framework: Broader national initiative; the availability of external funding Municipal leadership for partnership with partners experienced in public-private cooperation Programme planning and long-term strategies include flexibility for adjustments City campaign raising awareness about the opportunities and making the project popular among local residents. For further information, see Donald Judge Wesso SAndreea Gerendy Rosen4obg SUT Governance 7 13/9/07 16:57:37

8 SUT GOVERNANCE Graz tourismus SUT governance Public private partnerships and a bench-marking tool: ways of working together for communities, governments and the private sector To improve the management of tourism activities To provide better urban governance for tourism To bring the community long-term prosperity from tourism European Communities 2007 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged Further information about the sut governance project and the Final Project Report is at Other eu 5th and 6th Framework projects about conserving cultural heritage and sustainable tourism include: appear - suit - picture - The SUT GOVERNANCE project partners were: Germany: Karlsruhe Research Center, Institute of Technology Assessment and System Analysis Austria: Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Institute for Economic Geography, Regional Development and Environmental Management; Austria: Regional Consulting Ziviltechniker Gesellschaft GmbH Greece: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Technology, Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Development, Spatial Development Research Unit, with Panteion University of Athens Bulgaria: Saints Cyril and Methodius University of Veliko Turnovo, Department of Economics and Law, Department of Political Sciences SUT Governance 8 13/9/07 16:57:43